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Janus and Gender: Women and the Nation's Backward Look
Author(s) -
Cusack Tricia
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1354-5078.2000.00541.x
Subject(s) - dichotomy , irish , gender studies , ethnic group , representation (politics) , relation (database) , state (computer science) , sociology , janus , political science , law , epistemology , politics , computer science , materials science , nanotechnology , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , database
. This article considers how nations are imagined and characterised in relation to the national roles allocated to women, with particular reference to the early Irish state. It examines two related dichotomies, that between ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ nationalisms, and the concept of the nation itself as ‘Janus‐faced’, simultaneously looking ahead to the future and back to the past. It has been suggested that women bore the burden of the nation's ‘backward look’ towards a putative traditional rural past and an organic community, while men appropriated the nation's present and future. This thesis is examined with reference to Ireland and the representation of women in visual imagery and travel writing.